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“I’m in a mild state of mourning regarding the demise of Tazo. I just feel that Starbucks really dropped the ball on this one. They focused on coffee in the stores, where most of the people...”
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From Tazo

To begin with, there’s that wonderful name. According to legend, trained monkeys plucked the choicest tea leaves from lofty, hard-to-reach spots. The color descriptor derives from the downy-white leaf buds that turn golden during processing and yield a dark amber liquor that’s rimmed by a golden “halo.” Grown in China’s Yunnan region (“the land of four spring seasons”), Golden Monkey has an aroma of caramelized sugar, a smooth mouth feel and a clean, lightly astringent finish.

11 Tasting Notes

I’m in a mild state of mourning regarding the demise of Tazo. I just feel that Starbucks really dropped the ball on this one. They focused on coffee in the stores, where most of the people are coffee drinkers, and then wondered why the Tazo tea did not sell. The only place to buy the loose varieties (which were always the best) was online at the Starbucks site (again, the last place where tea drinkers are going to be looking for tea!), and in one store in NYC, now closed down.

Teavana, meanwhile, had their own huge network of franchises, so obviously they were bound to make more money than the Tazo acquisition, even with primary sales of “chunk o’ food” blends. The Tazo Collection series of high-quality whole-leaf loose tea came packaged in excellent ziplock foil envelopes about a million times better than the nonsensical paper bags provided at Teavana as a ploy to get customers to buy their humongous and ridiculous canisters. Bad management, and the end of yet another once good company, eaten up through the avaricious forces of corporatization.

So today’s afternoon black brew was Tazo Golden Monkey. My first Golden Monkey, and invariably wonderful. Beautiful golden shimmery leaves make up most of the dried tea, with gold dust to go with it. An unsweetened caramel flavor suffuses this rich and luscious brew. I love this stuff. Fortunately I have one more large envelope to go…

I’m not sure about grocery stores, but the whole line is being purged from Starbucks, cookies and Blodeuyn! The looseleaf Collection teas left the website a couple of months ago, and now the tins in the stores are on 30% off to clear them out.